Endless Eclipse
Endless Eclipse is a minigame found in the 2016 game Berserk and the Band of the Hawk. The objective is for players to solve "desires" to delve deeper and deeper into the Abyss, battling more and more monsters that become more daunting as the player progresses. The caveat is that once the player enters, they are not allowed to change out any of their equipment, meaning the game must be attempted with minimal healing and maximum caution. At Layer 100, Femto awaits for one final showdown. The difficulty setting of the main game has no bearing on Endless Eclipse. Rather, enemy health and defense values will slowly increase every mission, each mission lasting five layers. Many of the game's bosses make appearances throughout Endless Eclipse, while some of them and much of the game's cast will arrive to provide their own challenges. Every twenty layers, players unlock a new starting point, allowing them to pick up where they left off, until Layer 100. By finishing 30% of the minigame's missions, the player will be given access to the Wyald character, who can start his own missions. Below is a boss and general strategy guide as well as a reward guide. Bosses * Bazuso will appear in Guts' and Griffith's exclusive first mission. * Nosferatu Zodd occupies Layers 24 and 25 in normal and apostle forms. * Wyald occupies Layers 39 and 40 in normal and apostle forms. * The Lord of Thieves appears on Layer 50. * The Count appears on Layer 65. * Mozgus appears on Layer 75. * An ogre and a kelpie appear on Layer 85. * Slan appears on Layer 90. * Ganishka appears on Layer 95. * Layers 96--99 will be packed with a boss for each level, which will differ depending on which character is being played at the time. Which characters fight whom can be found on their individual pages. * Femto appears on Layer 100. Femto also appears on Layer 200, and presumably every hundred layers after. Strategy General Should problems arise with players being on low health, it is possible to "cheat" the Endless Eclipse by exiting, entering a Free Mode campaign (which will automatically restore all equipped items), and then returning. Progress will be lost doing this, so it is wise to only do so after every 20 levels, which will mark a new starting layer unlock. Thus, this effectively becomes impossible after Layer 80 has been reached. Players should also avoid using their health-restoring items unless in dire situations or close to a new start unlock, as transport units will periodically arrive on every mission, leaving behind a full vitality restore if defeated or sufficiently protected. Even near the end, it is worth the wait for one to arrive rather than use up healing charges. There is little to worry about for the first twenty levels. Enemies do pitifully low damage and have almost no health or defense to speak of. Once these are complete, the player can attempt their first real challenge in the form of Zodd. A sufficiently experienced player will still be relatively at ease until Layer 50, where the Lord of Thieves, a vicious boss whose placement results in higher attack power and defense, awaits. From Layers 55--75, players should do their best to either remain out of the reach of the common horde enemies, remain in Frenzy mode, or continually clear the space around them, as these enemies are almost entirely spear-handlers, giving them a long reach; due to their ability to stumble the player and the fact that they crowd in packs, getting too close can result in being stunlocked quite easily and losing more health than is advised. Layers 80--100 are grueling, making all of the horde enemies not only strong, fast, and tough, but making them highly proactive in hunting down and attacking the player as well. It is absolutely imperative that players have both the Resurgence and Regeneration perks at a fairly high level, preferably alongside Frenzy Inertia and Deathblow Inertia. Here more than ever, players should be reminded that they can call the horse at any time, even in some boss levels, resulting in an easy way to sprint around the field avoiding damage and dealing hit-and-run attacks. If the player has access to the Hawk of Light's warhorse or the Skeleton Knight's warhorse, these should be equipped, as they come with not only destructive power, but a high Equine Resurgence perk, which can be used to rush the Frenzy meter into full power if it is filling slowly. Layers 90--95 present the environmental hazard of Ganishka's lightning strikes. Unlike other hazards throughout the minigame, these will not cease once a mission in the area is complete, only stopping once Ganishka himself is down. Thus, players who want to wait to recharge their meters should be wary. The final five layers will always be frustratingly difficult. Players should stay far away from the bosses on the map and not engage them at all unless Frenzy mode is active, as massive damage will be taken from even light strikes. Wait for a transport unit to arrive and fulfill its conditions, as healing charges like Fairy Dust will be necessary for the Femto boss fight. Bosses Nosferatu Zodd is the first boss of substance. He is not overtly difficult, resembling his earliest story boss fight. However, as with before, he will be quite fond of using his roar and jumping swing, both of which have a 100% chance to stun. What's more, Zodd is fought at the Band of the Hawk campsite, which is ablaze and will constantly stumble and deal damage to the player if they get too close to the flames. Wyald is also not overtly difficult. His apostle form can be somewhat problematic due to its many wide-range attacks that stumble and deal fairly large damage, but overall he is not difficult to stun, knock down, or kill. Better yet, he is fought alongside several allies that the player will have gathered while fulfilling his mission, lessening the pressure. The Lord of Thieves is a roadblock that can stumble many players, causing them to have to go through 10 extra levels simply to reach him again if they die. The Lord of Thieves is almost exactly like his story incarnation: appearing halfway through, possessing middling attack and defense, and being extremely aggressive and more likely than not stunlocking the player at every opportunity. Keep a hefty distance and keep him stunned with things such as the Miniature Bombs or the Roar in order to keep him pinned and vulnerable. The Count is somewhat more difficult than his in-story appearance; he has higher attack power and is more aggressive. Still stunning easily and still having rather low defense makes this boss a chance to relax compared to others, however. Simply keep behind him to avoid his more damaging attacks and let loose when he is stunned, and the Count will go down easily. Mozgus is one of the more difficult bosses, and the last challenge before the minigame becomes hellacious. Aforementioned spear-wielding horde enemies can be a problem while fighting him, and his wild spinning attacks and God's Thousand-Strike Cannon will stunlock, dealing massive damage this late in the minigame unless avoided. Mozgus should be kept stunned at all available times in order to prevent him from landing his more damaging hits. The dual boss fight with the ogre and kelpie is probably the most difficult one in the last twenty levels. Unlike the in-story boss fight at Enoch Village, the player has no allies to relieve the pressure of two bosses at once, and there is no way to circumvent fighting them both at the same time. Ideally, the kelpie, which doesn't move much and provides much of the more stressful attacks, should be taken out first, but this will likely be difficult or impossible with the ogre bearing down on the player, and vice versa. Neither has a guard, but the ogre's attacks are far easier to avoid, so taking it down first is the safest way to win. Once the ogre is down, perform hit-and-run attacks on the kelpie until the Frenzy meter is full, and then let loose. Schierke's Rotting Root magic is one excellent way to prevent the kelpie from being an incredible nuisance during this boss fight. Slan's boss battle is, as with the in-story boss, a test of patience more than skill. Slan perhaps has higher defense than usual, but still remains stationary and uses highly telegraphed attacks. The three ogres she summons reappear here, and should still be slain before attempting to kill her. Keep away from the ogres until the Frenzy meter is full, however, as they do very high damage this late in the minigame. Slan can be stunned, and doing so is an easy way to prevent having to deal with her incredible guard. Ganishka is the next boss to appear. Ganishka is here even more aggressive and chaotic than before, and does large amounts of damage with his attacks. Keep moving at all times to avoid lightning being trained on the player, and when approaching him during the phase where he is on the side of the harbor, move back and forth to avoid the lightning while still getting hits in. Likewise, circle him while slashing away to keep from being mauled while dealing damage. Ganishka cannot be stunned, and attempts to do so will simply waste time. Characters with a transformed state like Guts, Griffith, Zodd, and Wyald are ideal for doing large amounts of damage to Ganishka in a short amount of time due to the halved rate of depletion for their Frenzy meters. However, the latter two are highly susceptible to Ganishka's attacks, which will stun them and leave them in a very long period of recovery. The final boss of the Endless Eclipse is Femto. He is extremely difficult, possessing three health bars, high defense, and a full range of devastating attacks. However, he is not as tedious as his in-story incarnation, instead pursuing the player across the field with energy wheels and using his own combos, which steadily increase in chain length until his last bar of health, wherein he finishes with a black tornado. The player should be in Frenzy mode non-stop to defeat him, and should use dizzying sub-weapon abilities to keep Femto out of the way while recharging it. His guard is thick, but easily circumvented by moving around behind him. His dark explosion is a move with high damage and knockback, but oddly almost always appears behind Femto, meaning characters like Guts and Zodd will have no difficulty avoiding it. Characters like Serpico or Griffith, however, who step forward with each attack and may end up behind Femto in the process of slashing him, are at risk. Abuse Guts' miniature bombs, Judeau's throwing knives, Casca's counter, Griffith's counter, Zodd's roar, Wyald's cry, and Schierke's Rotting Root magic in order to keep Femto down while building the Frenzy meter, and if he is currently chaining his combo, flee and put a very large distance between the character and him. His black tornado is particularly devastating to be hit by, not helped by the spread of energy wheels which will knock the player down each time they are hit by them. All healing items should be saved for this fight, as well as the Puck Spark if equipped, which will be helpful in keeping Femto out of the picture if currently suffering stunlock from his energy wheels. Continue putting pressure on Femto this way and he will be defeated. Another method to cheese latter-stage bosses is to let yourself be brought to near-death. This will greatly accelerate the rate at which your Frenzy Gauge fills, allowing you to engage the boss in Frenzy, pull back and flee while it recharges, and re-engage when Frenzy is ready. Stray War Demons Spread throughout the Abyss are Stray War Demons. These beings have powerful attacks, along with monstrous health and defense, and will stay in one area until located, after which they will pursue the player across the map. Defeating a Stray War Demon grants a Beherit, good equipment, and large amounts of gold. However, the risk is high, particularly in the later stages of the minigame, wherein they will often appear clustered close next to bosses, who cannot be fought without setting off the War Demon. Maximum effort should be put into avoiding them in situations such as the Count's battle, the battle with the ogre and kelpie, and the battle with Femto. Interestingly, a Stray War Demon will always be found in Layer 95 with Ganishka. However, it will not show hostility at all during the fight, even if the player walks up to it and triggers it (at which point it will attack, but will leave the player alone if they retreat). This is likely intentional, so as to not make the already chaotic and frustrating battle borderline-impossible to win. However, players should beware that the instant Ganishka is defeated, the War Demon will pursue them, even if it hasn't been triggered. Category:Video Games